Spidey is going berserk a lot lately, man, he has got to chill. Peter David, Mike Harris, Kyle Baker, Bob Sharen. We begin with The Daily Bugle’s account of a Spider-Man incident, as a man spooked by Spider-Man’s appearance on a rooftop above ran into traffic, and Spidey webbed an oncoming truck to try to stop him from being run over. The truck still managed to hit the guy, but Spider-Man slowed it enough with his web to keep the impact from being fatal. The copy indicates some witnesses claimed Spider-Man was trying to kill the guy, while others thought he was trying to save him. The anti-Spider-Man are alleged to have said they thought he webbed the truck to steer it toward the man. Which seems pretty silly, but you know. Spider-Man yells for someone to call an ambulance at the scene.
That last panel is another extremely Peter David bit of “comedy.” That kind of thing is what’s always kept me from being a fan. He’s written a ton of great stories, but he can’t resist goofy stuff like that, and it takes me right out of them. A rightly outraged doctor tries to chase all the reporters out of the room, including Ben Urich, who thinks something is up with this situation. But then JJJ appears with Peter Parker in tow, bulldozing his way into the room. The patient, Buddy Corbett, says he just panicked when he saw Spider-Man, “because he’s a menace,” but JJJ begins trying to convince him Spider-Man chased him into the street, while also casually revealing he plans to pay Corbett’s medical bills.
The fix is in! Meanwhile, Ben Urich is getting a contact in the police force to dig up some records for him, and elsewhere, some goons put a stick of dynamite in an ATM, which seems really counterintuitive to me.
Spider-Man arrives home shortly thereafter, to his still-ruined apartment, his nerves frayed. The mob really did try to attack him, and they ripped up parts of his suit before he left. He finds his red & blues were messed up by the fire, so he has no Spidey suit that’s not damaged. Then he sees that business guy on the news and it’s too much. He decides to go after JJJ. Before he can go, MJ calls. She tries to talk him off the ledge, but he’s not listening. Meanwhile, Ben Urich has gone to see Buddy Corbett again…
So Spider-Man is about to be cleared by good ol’ Ben Urich. Except he’s nuts now, and comes smashing through JJJ’s office window, intent on scaring him to death, or worse. JJJ tries to flee, but Spider-Man webs the door.
All valid points, but obviously, this is not good. But he doesn’t lunge for JJJ, and instead just lands on the door. He continues taunting his old foe, getting closer and closer before picking him up and threatening to punch him in the face.
Spider-Man leaves, and soon the Bugle staff has broken into JJJ’s office. He kicks everyone right back out but Robbie. He says he’s never seen Spider-Man like that, so angry, so dangerous. Robbie points out that’s funny, since that’s how JJJ has always described him, before letting him know he’s footing the hospital bill for a con man who ran because he was afraid Spider-Man was onto him.
Web is now 3 months ahead of the other books, so it’s gonna take a minute for them to catch up, but we’re heading into a period of “dark” Spider-Man, always on edge and hating his life, that drags on way too long and, at least in ASM, is an absolute bore. I haven’t seen how it plays in the other titles, but if this is any indication, getting to ASM 289 is going to be really painful. And that’s not even talking about the ridiculous conclusion to the long-running mystery of The Hobgoblin. But there’s at least one great issue between here and there.